Extension ladders



Aug. 22, 135967 H HUSKA'ET AL 3,337,@l

EXTENSION LADDERS Filed Jan. 20, 1966 7&7 J3

L Qa 22 I 'VENTO 5 20/ 0 w- A e/@41 L I u 1 rm" 3 a ATTORNEY.

United States Patent ()fiice 3,337,001 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 3,337,001EXTENSION LADDERS Harold W. Husk-a, Greenville, and James C. Redman,

Hadley, Pa., assignors to R. D. Werner Co., Inc., Greenville, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed Jan. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 521,973 4Claims. (Cl. 182-207) This invention relates to extension ladders andrelates more particularly to cable means for use in hoisting the flysection of an extension ladder with respect to the base section thereof.

An object of this invention is to provide cable means of the typedescribed which can be quickly and readily attached to or detached fromthe fly section to permit separation of the extension ladder sections.

Another object of this invention is to provide cable means of the abovetype completely clear of the ladder rungs of the extension ladder sothat the entire width of said rungs is unencumbered by the hoist means.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide improved meanspermanently attached to the fly section to which the cable means of thisinvention may be detachably attached.

A still further object of this invention is to provide improved mountingfor the cable means of this invention whereby the cable means is mountedon one side of one of the extension ladder sections.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved hoist meansfor an extension ladder which is simple in construction, composed of butfew parts, readily assembled and highly eflicient in use.

These and other objects of this invention will become more readilyapparent from a purview of the following description and the attacheddrawings, in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of the assembly of the extension ladder ofthis invention comprising base and fly sections having the cable meansof the invention attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the ladder of this invention aportion of the same being broken away and a portion having dotted linesfor clarification of underlying parts;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken from the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the fly attachment bracket of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, in all of which like parts are designatedby like reference characters, an extension ladder is generally indicatedat which comprises a base section 20 and a fly section 40. The basesection 20 comprises generally parallel, laterally spaced side rails 21joined together by transverse, uniformly spaced rungs 22. The flysection 40 similarly comprises generally parallel, laterally spaced siderails 41 joined together by transverse, uniformly vertically spacedrungs 42.

The base and fly sections 20 and 40 may be made of any suitablematerial, such as wood, fiberglass, metal, such as aluminum, andslidably attached in any preferred manner to prevent forward andrearward separation thereof.

The ladder as shown is preferably front loaded in the manner disclosedin copending application of James C. Redman, assigned to the assignee ofthe instant application, Ser. No. 504,601 filed, Oct. 24, 1965.

It will be apparent by reference to the application referred to abovethat the brackets used for slidably mounting the fly section on thebase, and shown at 29, 29, are mounted on the upper end of the basesection and on the lower end of the fly section, respectively. Each saidguide bracket comprises a flat base portion 30, rigidly secured as byrivets 31 flatwise against the web 43 of the side rail of its associatedladder section and each guide bracket terminates in a projecting hookend 24 which is adapted to overlap a flange of one section and anadjacent flange of the other section.

Additionally thereto the fly section shown in this invention includes aguide member 49 preferably similarly formed to the guide brackets 29, 29although other forms might be employed. As shown the member 49 has aflat base portion 50 secured byrivets 51 to the web 43 of the flysection 40 and positioned above the lower guide bracket 29 on the flysection; the hook end 54 of such guide bracket 49 is provided with anotch 55 in an in.- wardly directed leg 56 of said hook. The endlessrope or cable is generally indicated at 60 in FIGS. 1 and 2 andcomprises an endless rope or cable 61 having 'one end of the said ropesecured as by conventional clips or clamping means 62 to an opposite endportion 63 of said rope a short distance inwardly of one end 64 of saidrope, which end 64 is shown as formed into a loop or eye 64' althoughother forms may be employed. As shown the loop or eye 64' is secured bymeans of the notch 55 to the bracket 50.

The rope passes upwardly over a pulley 70, secured by means of agenerally S-shaped mounting bracket 71 and rivets 72 to the web 23 ofthe base section 20, as best shown in FIG. 3. The rope passes downwardlytherefrom on either side of the rung joints and traverses a pulleysecured to the web of the side rail of the base in close proximity tothe lowermost portion thereof. The mounting bracket 81, for the pulley80, similarly to that shown at 71, is secured as by rivets 82 to the web23 of the base section. The endless rope or cable 61, as illus trated,is permanently aflixed by means of the pulleys to one side rail of thebase section of the front loading and stacked extension ladder shown,and the dangling free end of this rope is easily and quickly looped overthe leg 56 and the eye thereof seated in the notch 55 whereby after thefly section is stacked on the base section carrying the cable and theladder sections assembled as shown, this end of the endless rope isfastened to the fly and the fly section is thereafter hoisted or loweredby either manipulating the endless rope or cable or by simply pushing upor pulling down on the fly section. The parts may be readily disengagedone from the other by simply removing the end of the rope from themounting bracket 49.

Since the entire cable means is carried by the base section when theladder is not in use as an extension ladder, and the rope is equippedwith a member which can be readily attached to a fitting aflixedpermanently to the bottom section of the fly section, it will be obviousthat with this design of cable mounting, the cable works within theenvelop dimensions of the base section of the ladder when the side railis channeled and the flanges thereof face outward.

The placement of the cable or rope means on the out side of the ladderis particularly desirable from a safety standpoint in that the entirewidth of the ladder rungs, as illustrated herein, is free for use by theperson climbing the ladder.

Although we have described this invention in connection with a preferredembodiment thereof, it will be apparent that numerous and extensivedepartures may be made therefrom without, however, departing from thespirit of this invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. An extension ladder of the type described having a base section and alongitudinally slidable fly section, each said section comprisingchannel shaped side rails having flat webs connected by rungs andlaterally projecting, parallel flanges carried at the edges of said.webs, the side rails of said fly section overlying the side rails ofsaid base section, endless cable means mounted on one Web of one side.rail ofsaidbase section and between the flanges of said one side rail,connector means carried by one side rail of the fly section overlyingsaid one side rail of the base section, said connector means having aportion projecting into the channel of said one side rail of the basesection adapted to detachably secure the said cable means joinedadjacent its ends, said endless cable means having a depending portionextending therefrom adapted to be detachably secured to said connectormeans, said connector means secured to the web of said one rail of saidfly section, said projecting portion extending around the adjacentflanges of said one side rail of said base section and said one siderail of said fly section and projecting into the channel of said oneside rail of said base section.

3. An extension ladder of the type claimed in claim 2 wherein the saiddepending portion of said endless cable means is provided with an eyeand the said projecting portion of said connector means is provided withan opening therein, said opening detachably receiving said eye.

4. An extension ladder as claimed in claim 2 wherein the entire endlesscable means and depending portion thereof is mounted on a single rail ofthe base section when the fly and base ladder sections are disassembled.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 75,052 3/ 1 868 Pine 182-209349,370 9/1886 Springer 182212 375,250 12/1887 Bailey 182208 2,944,6257/ 1960 Shore 182-209 2,957,543 10/1960 Larson 18222'8 FOREIGN PATENTS198,920 6/1923 Great Britain. 204,529 10/ 1923 Great Britain.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner.

1. AN EXTENSION LADDER OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED HAVING A BASE SECTION AND ALONGITUDINALLY SLIDABLE FLY SECTION, EACH SAID SECTION COMPRISINGCHANNEL SHAPED SIDE RAILS HAVING FLAT WEBS CONNECTED BY RUNGS ANDLATERALLY PROJECTING, PARALLEL FLANGES CARRIED AT THE EDGES OF SAIDWEBS, THE SIDE RAILS OF SAID FLY SECTION OVERLYING THE SIDE RAILS OFSAID BASE SECTION, ENDLESS CABLE MEANS MOUNTED ON ONE WEB OF ONE SIDERAIL OF SAID BASE SECTION AND BETWEEN THE FLANGES OF SAID ONE SIDE RAIL,CONNECTOR MEANS CARRIED BY ONE SIDE RAIL OF THE FLY SECTION OVERLYINGSAID ONE SIDE RAIL OF THE BASE SECTION, SAID CONNECTOR MEANS HAVING APORTION PROJECTING INTO THE CHANNEL OF SAID ONE SIDE RAIL OF THE BASESECTION ADAPTED TO DETACHABLY SECURE THE SAID CABLE MEANS TO SAID ONESIDE RAIL OF THE SAID FLY SECTION WHEN SAID FLY SECTION IS SLIDABLYMOUNTED ON SAID BASE SECTION, THE FLY SECTION BEING HOISTED OR LOWEREDBY THE ENDLESS CABLE MEANS CARRIED BY SAID BASE SECTION AND SECURED TOTHE SAID FLY SECTION.